Prop. 8 backers fear instruction in gay marriage

Warning to gay-marriage backers: Companies urged to back ProtectMarriage.com as well. A4

AT ISSUE:
PROPOSITION 8 AND SCHOOLS

The Nov. 4 ballot measure would amend the state constitution to define marriage as being between a man and woman, overturning a state Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.

Pro: If Proposition 8 does not pass, schools could be required to include same-sex-marriage instruction.

Con: School districts would retain authority over lesson plans, and state law allows parents to keep children out of classes if they object to the curriculum.

SACRAMENTO – Supporters of Proposition 8 have broadened their television campaign, moving beyond the fundamental question of whether gay couples should be allowed to marry.

They are focusing on what they contend are potential consequences if voters reject the measure, raising the possibility that schools ultimately would be compelled to incorporate same-sex marriage into lesson plans.

That claim is dismissed by many educators, who say the state education code yields to local school districts when it comes to choosing how to approach the touchy subjects of marriage and sex education – if at all. And, they stress, state law allows parents to keep their children out of class if they are uncomfortable with course materials.

Educators in the San Diego region are sharply divided, and local school board policies take different approaches toward same-sex marriage. Escalating the divide: a $1 million contribution by the California Teachers Association to defeat Proposition 8, the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.

Jim Groth, a member of the teachers union's executive board in San Diego, explained the donation. “Proposition 8 will not affect teaching in our schools. Those are lies being crafted to scare people,” he said. “No child can be taught anything about health and family education against the will of their parents.”

The association's move frustrated Randy Schimpf, a Ramona fourth-grade teacher who supports Proposition 8. If the state continues to allow same-sex marriages, “there will be a time when we, as teachers, will be asked to teach that gay and lesbian marriages are normal,” he said.

Polls show Proposition 8 gaining ground but still trailing heading into the Nov. 4 election.

Opponents of same-sex marriage, already a fervent force, have been further galvanized by a hard-hitting television commercial featuring San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. He is seen gloating: “The door is wide-open now. . . . It's going to happen whether you like it or not,” after the state Supreme Court in May, on a 4-3 vote, overturned a 2000 voter-imposed ban on gay marriages.

The commercial shifts to Richard Peterson, a professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, who warns that “gay marriage will be taught in schools . . . churches could lose their tax exemption,” and that there will be “people sued over personal beliefs.”

Supporters of Proposition 8 initially tried to make similar arguments in the official state voter pamphlet, but a judge ruled that those accusations were “false and misleading.”

Instead, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley ordered Proposition 8 supporters to couch the wording by using terms such as “may” or “could” in describing the measure's effect on same-sex weddings' becoming part of the curriculum.

“Current law does not require school districts to teach anything about marriage or same-sex marriage at any grade level,” the judge noted. “Moreover, for those school districts that choose to include instructions about marriage . . . (the) education code requires that they allow parents to excuse their children from any such instruction conflicting with the parents' religious or moral grounds.”

Those words don't assuage supporters of Proposition 8, who point to a Massachusetts dispute over the use of the book “King and King,” a story about two princes marrying. The book was read in a second-grade classroom without parents being told in advance or being allowed to pull their children out. Parents of one student sued but lost when a federal court ruled that advance notice was not required because the story wasn't part of the sex-education curriculum.

Schimpf said: “Parents' rights to be notified were denied. . . . As parents, we should have the right to raise our children with those ideals and standards and beliefs we feel are best. I certainly don't want the state to tell me how to raise my children.”

That won't happen, even if Proposition 8 fails, said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

“Proposition 8 has nothing to do with schools or kids,” O'Connell says in a commercial opposing Proposition 8. “Our schools aren't required to teach anything about marriage, and using kids to lie about that is shameful.”

But supporters of Proposition 8 note that districts choosing to offer those programs must teach “respect” for marriage. If Proposition 8 fails, those districts would therefore have to teach respect for same-sex marriage, say those campaigning for Proposition 8.

Both sides were handed ammunition last month when elementary school students at a San Francisco public charter school attended the wedding of their teacher to her longtime female partner.

Supporters of Proposition 8 cited the event as proof that same-sex marriage instruction is infiltrating schools.

But former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin said the case demonstrates that California has adequate safeguards in place. After being notified in advance, two parents kept their children from participating.

Nevertheless, Eastin conceded, “the timing is terrible.”

Jim Kelly, a Grossmont Union High School District trustee, is convinced that if Proposition 8 is rejected, gay-rights advocates will demand that teachers incorporate lessons friendly to same-sex relationships.

“We have done everything we could to keep religious, political and cultural controversies out of the classroom,” Kelly said of the approach taken by Grossmont in El Cajon.

In the San Diego Unified School District, the policy has been to teach respect for all types of families, without making judgments. That will not change regardless of the election outcome, resource teacher Marge Kleinsmith said.

The curriculum does not include references to types of marriages. “We assume that's what families talk to young people about,” she said.

The district offers parents previews of all courses and materials. “My message to parents is: I assure you that your child will never be made to feel uncomfortable regarding your family values,” Kleinsmith said.

Shelia Jackson, a San Diego district trustee up for re-election, opposes Proposition 8. “Nothing in Proposition 8 affects teaching or schools. Nothing,” she said in a statement.

In the Sweetwater Union High School District, which spans Chula Vista, San Ysidro and National City, “there is no curriculum or lesson plans that address marriage. We do talk about healthy relationships and resolving conflicts. We don't talk about gay marriage or heterosexual marriage,” spokeswoman Lillian Leopold said.

Coincidentally, the district is in the process of tossing outdated administrative regulations. One of them states, “Teachers shall instruct students to honor and respect monogamous, heterosexual marriage.”